Eshéan
General information This is a language that I am developing for a novel. I have been working on it for several years now and still have a lot of work to do. I want to start developing a proto form of it, a middle stage, and a modern form. I want it to seem like a realistic language that has developed over millennia. I have an alphabet, but I want to work backwards from it into a hieroglyphic writing system. Any help would be appreciated, especially in creating more vocabulary. Phonology The letters in parentheses are the symbols used to represent the sounds they follow when writing with the Latin Alphabet. Consonants Vowels Alphabet http://fontstruct.com/fontstructions/show/702883 The link takes you to a site where you can see and test the alphabet. It is a system that uses one symbol per sound and uses accents to denote aspirated consonants or to switch to a related vowel sound. To add an accent while typing with the font I created use shift+letter. Phonotactics There are no vowel clusters in this language. All vowels sound separately without any effect on each other, including double vowels. There are three diphthongs in Eshean though. They are oi, ei (é) & ai (í) Contrastingly, any consonant blend that can be pronounced with the given phonology can exist in Eshean. However, the most common are Shk, Sht, Thr, Ny, Shy, Tso, Tsi, Pr, Tr, My, etc. Grammar (The grammar still needs a lot of work) Nouns All nouns end in ‘al’ as their infinitives. From their infinitives they are conjugated to define their physical form. Nouns that are Animate objects (People, animals, etc.) change endings to ‘ath’. Inanimate objects (Things) conjugate to ‘av’. All other things that are neither animate nor inanimate (mostly places) end in ‘an’. Ideas and concepts end in ‘al’. Subjects come before the verb and objects follow the verb because of the rule that allows dropping the subjective pronouns. 'Particles:' Particles are a simple way of defining the function of the part of speach that they follow. There are only two, as of yet, in Eshean. They are used to define Subjects and Objects. This allows the nouns to be in any order and yet still carry the same meaning (this may currently conflict with SVO rules listed, however, this is more prevelant.) Subjective Particle: ho Objective Particle: to Exceptions: Words that always end in al: Amazement - Tazual Brother - Valal Enjoyment - Ictudal Forest - índomal Music - Asushal Night - Fazhal Power - Ubstínal Verbs Any noun can be made into a verb and vice versa. Simply take the noun infinitive and change the ending to the proper conjugation. Verbs are conjugated based on the person and number of the subject. If the subject is a pronoun it can be dropped. If the subject has to be stated, such as a proper name, then do not conjugate the verb. If there are two verbs, then conjugate the first and ad -ki to the second. Take the noun infinitive and form them into verbs with these endings. Singular Plural 1st person - u - usi 2nd person - o - osi 3rd person - é - ési If pronoun is present - a -asi Exceptions: always in the infinitive (ki) To be - Lodenki To call - Drotoki To drink - Bumilikki Past Tense & Past Participle Past tense is formed by adding -zho to the end of the proper conjugation of the verb. The past participle has the ending - sho instead of -zho. When to verbs follow each other, the second one does not have the suffix added if they are related to each other. Future Tense Future tense is formed by ending a word with -tso. Command Form Add -m after the conjugation. Pronouns There are many types of pronouns in Eshe that can be used. Some have different rules for their use. Subjective nouns do not exist in Ehse because the verbs already provide the same function. However, for emphasis the objective pronoun can be placed in front of the verb to serve the function of a subjective pronoun. When the objective pronoun directly precedes a noun, it becomes the respective possessive adjective for that object. Reflexive pronouns are formed by taking the objective pronoun and adding -sa to the end. Prepositional pronouns are the same as objective pronouns. Objective, Subjective, Reflexive, and Possessive Pronouns Singular Plural 1st Person Las Lasi 2nd Person Ves Vesi 3rd Person Tus, Fil, Lil Tusi, Fili, Lili Demonstrative Pronouns This - Bas That - Bash Them - Gash These - Vas Those - Vash Interrogatives and Interrogative Pronouns Questions are formed by leaving all words of the sentence the same except for adding the word ‘myuna’ either at the beginning of the sentence or after the interrogative pronoun. Who - Saf which - Sar what - Sat where - Sev when - Sel why - Set how - Sul Adverbs & Adjectives (Sòazivuan) Adverbs are developed from the noun infinitive by adding -ot. Adjectives are formed by changing the ending to - ut. Both adverbs and adjectives come after the word that they describe. Negatition Prepositions, Adjectives and Adverbs are negated by adding Da- to the beginning of them. Verbs are negated by adding Ra- to the beginning. Nouns are negated by adding Na- to the beginning. Superlatives Absolute - od Comparative - odus Examples: Good - Inas Better - Inasod Best - Inasodus Idiomatic Expressions In - OK/Well.../Good/Very Well/Of Accordance Myuna Ac - Is it not?/No?/Right?/Am I Right? Yondom/Yondosim - Come/Come on/Come here Myuna on bazhan mecié ves(i)? - How are you? (formal) Myuna sul lodenu(si)? - How are you? (Informal polite) Lodenu(si)? - How are you? (Informal) Myuna sotoath?/Myuna sat sotoath lodené tus? - What time is it? Myuna òonan?/ Myuna sat òonan lodené tus? - What is the date? Myuna azhan?/ Myuna sat azhan lodené? - What is today? Kòuplémésisho on mítinav kas tusathi. - It was love at first sight. Vocabulary Entire vocabulary can be seen on Google Drive. This is because I have 1,150 words and there is simply not enough time in a day to try and orginize them on this site and on my Google Docs. So take a look at them there. Eshean Vocab on Google And for new vocabulary creation, I recomend this tool. If you set all the presets right, it works very well! Example text These examples are from Middle Eshean and will probably change drastically as I work on it. Sel ko on jozhoav kas òeyisath aféinani, solili hipalot paɾa bevo holòéathi chisiana on jisinavi atsoinut sar salfinsho gash els kuzhus. - First sentence of the Declaration of Independence Viodé, sul myuna las lodenki? Ves lodenki inasot, dolagasten. On las feni lodenki zhunorut, myuna ac? Ji, lil lodenki inasut manot. In, myuna gíchenusi kohoal? Ji. Gíchenusim. -An example of an informal greeting. Category:Languages